Electric appliance



y 1942- A. A. PROPERNICK 2,282,089

ELECTRIC APPLIANCE Filed March 29, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 PE .1. J4 3'6 7 W W 3 [h enbor": August A roper-hick by 79244 5. His Attorne g.

y 5, 1942- A. A. PROPERNICK 2,282,089

ELECTRIC APPLIANCE Filed March 29, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 46 F g.5. 49 I 40 J/ w 41 4/ A .'lf"" 41 =.=.:a';-... if 56 Inventor:

August A.-PTOPeTT1iCk,

id fi m/17f. 1 W

His Attorne g.

y 1942- A. A. PROPERNICK 2,282,089

ELECTRIC APPLIANCE Filed March 29, 1940 s Sheetls-Sheet 3 Fig.8..

August A. Pro ernick,

by His Rotor-hes.

Patented May 5, 1942 ELECTRIC APPLIANCE August A.

Propernick, Bridgeport, Com, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application March 29, 1940, Serial No. 326,719

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an electric appliance and more particularly to an electric cooking appliance, such as a waille iron, and has for its primary object the provision of a new and improved control and signal arrangement for such an appliance.

While this invention is particularly applicable to electric wailie irons and will be described in detail as a control and signal arrangement for such a cooking appliance, it will be understood that the control and signal arrangement or this invention may be used with other cooking appliances and particularly other cooking appliances having upper and lower cooking members, for example, electric sandwich grills.

It is a specific object of this invention to provide in an electric cooking appliance, such as waffle irons or the like, a new and improved control which is rugged in construction, comprises relatively iew parts, is eflicient and accurate in operation, and is adjustable over a relatively wide range by means which control, the relative position between a circuit controlling device and a temperature responsive element.

It is a further object of this invention to provide in an electric cooking appliance a new and improved control device having improved means for efiecting a manually settable oil position so that an on and off switch for the cooking appliance is incorporated in the control device.

In the use ofelectric waiile irons it is well known that the character and color of the waffle produced depends upon the length of time and the temperature at which it is cooked. It is, therefore, among the specific objects of this invention to provide an inexpensive, readily assembled,.and easily operated control device for a waille iron by which the temperature of the wailie grids may be controlled over a wide range so that the color and hence the degree of cooking of the waffle may be regulated to suit the predilection of the consumer.

In electric cooking appliances of the type under discussion, it is customary to provide visible signal means for indicating when the cooking plates of the appliance have attained a cook ing temperature and when the food on the cooking plate has been cooked the desired amount. It has been proposed to use electric lamps for the visible signal means but these lamps have not been entirely successful due to the fact that they have been mounted on brackets which are secured directly to one of the cooking plates thereby subjecting the lamp to the high temperatures attained by the cooking plate in the operation of the appliance. It is therefore-a further specific object 01' this invention to provide an improved visible signal means by which the aforementioned difllculty is overcome and the life of the signal lamp is substantially increased.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear as the following description proceeds and the features 01 novelty which characterize this invention will be set forth in the claims appended to and torming a part oi the specification. I

For a more complete understanding of. my invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is an elevation partly in section oi a cooking appliance such as a waflle iron provided with my improved control and indicating means; Fig. 2 is a plan view partly broken away of the waflle iron shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a bottom view of my improved control device showing the control means in a different circuit controlling position from that shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig.

3 showing the position 01 the elements of my improved control device when the contact assembly has been moved to the manually settable on position; Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective of the control device looking in the direction of the bottom or the lower waiile casting shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 6 shows the escutcheon plate and control knob employed with my improved temperature adjusting means and sig-' nal arrangement; Fig. 7 is a circuit diagram showing the waille iron circuit and the position or the control device and signal lamp therein; Fig. 8 is a bottom view of a lower wattle grid showing a modified form of my improved control means mounted thereon; Fig. 9 is a detailed plan view of the supporting brackets used with the modified form of control shown in Fig. 8; and Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the bracket shown in Fig. 9.

Referring to the drawings and particularly Figs. 1 and 2, I have shown my improved control and signal arrangement applied to a wailie iron having a lower waille casting l0 which is supported on a circular base member having a side wall II and a top wall I! in which is pressed a circumferential groove l3. Extending downwardly from the inside edge of the top wall I2 is a casing H which cooperates with the side wall H to form an annular chamber IS in the base assembly. The casing ll thereby divides the base or the waflle iron into two chambers and serves as a baiile or barrier to retard the flow of heat to the annular chamber i5. Arranged to close the bottom of the base member I is the base plate i 6 and provided on the base plate is a plurality of leg members l1 made from some suitable heat insulating material which are adapted to support the waiiie iron in an elevated position with respect to the table or other suitable supporting means upon which the iron is located. Provided on the lower waiile plate is a heating unit assembly which comprises an annular ring i8 of some suitable ceramic material which is provided with a circumferential groove l9 into which a suitable heating element is adapted to lie. The heating unit assembly is secured to the lower waflle' grid by means of the pressure plate 2|. In order to secure the base plate I! and the pressure plate 2| in their respective positions, a post 22 is provided centrally of the lower waiile casting which post supports a stud 23 on which a pair of nuts 24 and 25 are threaded to fasten the pressure plate and base plate respectively in position.

Hingedly secured to the base assembly by means of a suitable hinge assembly 26 is an upper grid assembly comprising an upper waflie casting 21 which is provided with a centrally locatedpost 26 to which is secured by means of a screw 29 the upper pressure plate 36 for firmly securing to the grid 21 a heating unit assembly which comprises an annular ring 3| of a suitable ceramic material provided with a groove 32 at its periphery and a heating unit 33 located in the groove. Ar-

ranged to enclose the upper grid assembly is a casing or lid 34 to which is secured a suitable handle 35 for raising the assembly on its hinge 26. Asshown in Fig. 7, the heating units for the upper and lower grids are electrically connected in series. The leads 36 for the upper heating unit are arranged to pass through the casing 34 and the hinge 26 to and into the base I6. A coiled spring member 31 which extends through the casing l4, base III, hinge 26 and into the cover of the upper grid forms a resilient duct to protect the leads 36 from damage.

As previously described, this invention contemplates the provision of improved means for controlling the operation of the waflle iron in accordance with temperature changes of one of the U waflle grids, preferably the lower. In effecting this improved control arrangement, I have provided a suitable temperature responsive element which in the preferred form of my invention is a bimetallic element 36 which is firmly secured by means of a nut and bolt 39 to a slotted boss 46 molded on the lower waiiie casting. The bimetallic element 38 is adapted to move in accordance with temperature changes of the lower grid, the element being arranged so as to move to the left as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 upon an increase in temperature ofthe lower waiiie casting. Actuated in accordance with this movement of the bimetallic element 38 is a relatively movable contact 4l which is adjustably secured by means of a screw 42 and a lock nut 43 on a resilient contact arm 44 intermediate the ends thereof. The contact arm 44 is in turn secured at one end to a bracket 45, a suitable insulating disk 45 being provided between the end of the bracket 45 and the end of the contact arm 44. A bolt 41 and nut 46 are provided for securing the contact arm to the bracket and the bolt extends beyond the contact arm so as to form a terminal for one of the electrical leads to the control device, the terminal being completed by a cup washer 49 which receives the end of a lead and a second nut 50. In order to increase the current carrying capacity of the control device, a flat lead 5| having a relatively low resistance is arranged to extend between the binding post formed by the screw 41 and the adjusting screw 42 which supports the relatively movable contact 4|.

Provided opposite the contact 4| and cooperating therewith to form switch means for the heating elements 26 and 33 is a relatively fixed contact 52 which is supported on a. contact bracket 53 by means of a terminal stud 54. Insulating washers 55 are provided on each side of the bracket 53 in order to insulate the same electrically and a disk washer 56 is provided at the terminal end of the stud 54 in order to facilitate electrically connecting a second lead thereto.

Threadedly mounted on the contact arm 44 intermediate the adjustable contact screw 42 and the free end of the arm 44 is an elongated screw 51 which is locked in its adjusted position by means of a lock nut 56. The end of the screw 51 projects beyond the contact arm and is adapted to be engaged by an insulating disk 59 which is mounted on the free end of the bimetal element 38. From the description thus far, it will be observed that deflection of the bimetal element to the left, in response to an increase in temperature, from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3 will cause the insulating disk 59 to engage the end of the screw 51 so as to cause the contact arm 44 to be moved to the left and thereby move the contact 42 out of en-- gagement with the relatively fixed contact 52.

In order to calibrate the control and thereby fix the maximum temperature at which the device will operate, the screw 51 may be moved so that the end thereof is closer to or farther away from the end of the bimetal blade and the insulating button mounted thereon. Such an adjustment controls the maximum amount of free movement required of the bimetal blade before the contact structureis moved to a different circuit controlling position and thereby controls the maximum settable temperature for the control.

In accordance with my invention, I have provided improved means for adjusting the temperature at which the circuit controlling means will be operated to open the heating circuit. As previously stated, my improved adjusting means is constructed and. arranged so that the contact structure of the control may be bodily shifted laterally with respect to the bimetal element. In order to effect such a temperature adjusting means, the contact brackets 45 and 53 are adapted to be secured together to form a unitary assembly and this unitary assembly is adapted to be moved laterally by an improved cam device 66. Considering this structure more in detail and, referring to Fig. 5, it will be observed that the cam 60 has a substantially hairpin shape which includes a substantially circular portion 6| and parallel leg portions 52 and 63. The bracket 53 is provided with a flange portion 64 which is adapted to lie between theparallel leg portions of the cam and the bracket 46 is provided with a similar flange portion 65 which is adapted to lie outside of the leg portion 62. By means of a pair of rivets 56, the leg portions of the cam and the flange portions of the bracket are secured in their respective the cam supports both contact brackets and movement of the cam inwardly and outwardly causes a similar movement of the entire contact structure as a unit. In order to effect this lateral movement of the cam, a curved slot 81 is provided in the rounded portion 8| thereof and a shaft 88 having a pin 58 which tracks in the slot 81 is arranged to extend through the circular portion of the cam. By means of this construction, it will be observed that rotation of the shaft 88 will cause the pin 68 to move in the slot 61 and thus cause translation of the cam 80 and the contact structure secured thereto.

In order to secure the shaft 88 rotatably in its operative position, there is provided a bracket I having a vertically extending flange II and 12 at each end. Provided in the flange II is a bearing opening in which the end of the shaft is supported and provided in the flange I2 is a similar bearing opening which supports the shaft intermediate its ends. The bracket with the shaft mounted thereon is secured by means of screws 13 to a boss 14 molded on the lower waflie grid, the boss being provided with a slot I5 in which the shaft 68 is adjusted to lie as shown in Fig. 5. Rotation of the cam member 60 with the shaft is prevented by the provision of a pair of spaced flanges l6, m'olded on the lower waflie grid, between which the ends of the leg portions 62 and 83 of the cam are adapted to lie as shown in Fig. 5.

With the shaft thus mounted on the waffle grid and the cam restrained from rotating, it will be observed that rotation of the shaft 68 clockwise, as viewed in Fig. 5, will cause the cam 60 and the contact structure connected thereto to move to the left so that a lower temperature setting will be maintained, that is, so that the end of the screw 51 will be moved closer to the end of the bimetal element.

In order to provide a manually settable off position as one setting within the operating range of the movement of the shaft 68, there is adjustably secured to the lower waiiie plate by means of a screw 11 a stop bracket 18 which is provided with a vertically depending flange 19 upon which a circular stop member 80 is pressed. In order to prevent lateral movement of the stop bracket 18, a pair of studs 8| are molded on the lower waffle plate so as to lie on each side of the bracket as shown in Fig. 5. The stop member 88 is adapted to be engaged by the free end of the contact arm 44 so that movement of the arm to the right, as viewed in Figs. 3 and 4, or to the left, as viewed in Fig. 5, will be limited. Thus, considering the elements as shown in Fig. 5, rotation of the shaft in the clockwise direction causes movement to the left of the cam and hence a similar movement of the arm 45. So long as the movement of the arm is not suflicient to cause it to engage the stop 88, the position of the movable and fixed contacts relative to each other is undisturbed and the movement effects a different temperature setting for the control as described above. However, the stop 80 is positioned so .that the arm 48 will engage it before the shaft has been rotated its full amount in the clockwise direction. Thus, with the arm against the stop, further movement to the left of this portion of the control upon further clockwise rotation is prevented, but movement to the left of the rest of the contact continues and hence the contact 82 is moved away from the contact II to open the circuit.

My improved control arrangement is constructed so that adjustment thereof may be made from outside the casing. In effecting this construction, an extension shaft 82 is secured to the end of the shaft 88 by means, of a cotter pin 83. The shaft extension is adapted to extend through suitable openings provided in the casing M in the side wall 'I I of the base and a suitable knob 84 is secured to the outer end thereof by means of a spring clip 84'. Provided on the side wall of the base member at the point where the shaft 82 extends therethrough is an escutcheon plate 85 which, as shown in Fig. 6, is provided with a curved opening 88 and notches 81 which cooperate with a pointer 88 provided on the knob to indicate relative settings of the control. As shown, the legends off, light and dark are inscribed on the escutcheon plate to show the position the knob must be in to produce these limiting control conditions. A window 89 of some suitable colored glass or plastic material is provided behind the escutcheon plate in order to provide a colored illumination for the curved opening.

As has been previously pointed out, it is one of the objects of this invention to provide an improved signal device for indicating either that the waffle iron is at a cooking temperature or that the waflie is cooked the desired amount. To effect this object, there is provided an illuminating lamp 90 which is arranged to illuminate the dial portion of the escutcheon plate through a colored window 89. Signal devices employing a bulb have been used in the past but they have not been entirely satisfactory due to the fact that they were usually mounted on a bracket which was clamped directly to the waffle iron grid and located in the heated area of the iron. With such a mountin the life of the ordinary signal lamp was materially reduced due to the high temperatures to which it was subjected and in many instances the temperatures were sufficiently high to require a special bulb. In order to overcome these difficulties, 1 have provided a construction and arrangement by which the signal lamp is shielded from heat from the waflle unit. Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be observed that the signal lamp is supported in a bracket 8| which is mounted on the base plate It so as to lie in the chamber l5 formed in the base assembly. With such a mounting, the lamp 90 is shielded by the casing ll from a direct radiation of heat from the lower waffle grid heating unit and the bracket is not in contact with the heated grid. This effects a substantial reduction in temperature to which the signal lamp is subjected and increases the life of the signal lamp materially.

The operating circuit for the waiile iron is illustrated in Fig. '7. It is to be observed that the upper and lower units of the iron are connected in series and the signal lamp 88 is connected in series with these two units but is shunted by the contacts of the temperature responsive control device. Thus, when the waiile iron reaches the predetermined desired temperature either initially or after a waiile has been cooked, opening of the contacts of the control device by the temperature responsive element causes the shunt to be removed from the signal lamp and the lamp to be thereby illuminated. The resistance of the lamp 811 is high in comparison with the resistance of the units of the upper and lower grids. Thus, although the circuit is completed through these units, the wattage output of the units will be negligible when the lamp is energized.

Mounted on the casing H at the hinge or rear portion of the waffle iron, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, are terminal studs 82 which are insulated from the casing by means of a pair of mica washers 83. The electrical leads are connected to these terminal studs, as shown in Fig. 7, and provided in the side wall I I of the base opposite the end of the terminal studs is an opening 04 through which the plug of a suitable cord set (not shown) is adapted to pass in order to connect the terminals to a suitable source of supply.

In Figs. 8-10,'I have shown a modified form of my invention and the particular feature of this modification is that a control device is adapted to be assembled as a unitary structure which can be readily applied to the lower grid of the waflle iron. It has been found that when the wailie grids are made from pressure molded castings, the bosses used in the modifications shown in Figs. 1-5 for supporting the control on the waflle grid are quite satisfactory since the bosses can be held to the necessary tolerances in the pressure molding operation. However, it has been found that when permanent molded castings are employed, it is necessary to machine the bosses since the permanent molded casting cannot be held to as close tolerances as the pressure molded casting. Thus, in order to eliminate the need for molding supporting bosses to the waiiie grid when permanent molded castings are used, I have provided a unitary bracket 95 upon which all of the operating elements of the control device are adapted to be supported and which in turn is mounted on the lower waflle grid by means of a pair of screws 00. The elements of the control device used in this modified form of my invention are substantially the same as those described above and the same numerals are used to identify parts already described; Referring to Figs. 9 and 10, however, it will be observed that the unitary supporting bracket 05 is provided with a horizontal base portion 91 which is adapted to rest against the bottom 01' the wafile grid and with a vertically extending wall 98 which is provided with an opening 99 by which the bimetallic element 38 may secured in its operative position. Provided at one end of the bracket is a vertically extending flange I00 which is adapted to receive threadedly a support and adjustable screw IOI upon which is mounted a stop I02 which functions in a manner similar to the stop 80 described above. In addition, the bracket 95 is provided with a pair of flange members I03 which are arranged to support the shaft supporting bracket 10 and provided in the lower surface of the bracket 91 is a channel-shaped portion I04 which is adapted to receive the leg portions 62 and 63 of the cam member in order to prevent relative rotation thereof with respect to the shaft 68. This channel-shaped member functions in the same manner as the bosses 16 described in connection with the modification shown in Figs. 1-5.

It is apparent that with the form of my invention shown in Figs. 8-10, the control device may be assembled as a unit on the single supporting bracket shown in Figs. 9 and 10 and the unitary assembly then applied to the waflie grid by means of the screws 00. In this way all special molding and machining operations of the waffle grid are eliminated and the control device may be readily assembled and easily applied to the waille grid so as to produce an accurately operating and inexpensive control therefor.

It is believed that the operation of my improved wailie iron control is apparent from the foregoing detailed. description. However, again briefly considering the operation of the control, it will be assumed that the parts are in the relative positions shown in Fig. 2 and that the electrical terminals 03 have been connected to a waifle batter on the lower waille setting ofthe control knob, the

suitable source of supply. The upper and lower heating units of the waille iron will then be energized and the wailie grids will be heated. When the predetermined desired temperature of the waiile grids is obtained in accordance with the setting of the adjusting knob ,the bimetallic element 38 will have deflected to the left to the position shown in Fig. 3 and the contact 4i will be moved away from the contact 52. As shown in Fig. 7 this movement of the contact members has the effect of removing the shunt from the signal lamp 00 and a signal is thus given that the waiile iron has reached the desired cooking temperature. At the same time the wattage output of the upper and lower heating units is reduced to a negligible quantity as previously described so that further heating of the waiiie iron is prevented.

When the waflle iron has reached the predetermined desired temperature, .the lid will be raised and the waiiie batter placed on the lower grid and then the lid closed. The pouring of the grid has the a degree that to the right so closed. When is shunted and efiect of cooling this grid to such the bimetallic element is deflected that the contacts II and 52 are this takes place, the signal lamp the upper and lower heating units for the upper and lower grids are subjected to their full operating voltage so that heating of the waflle grids will again take place. As the waiile batter cooks, the temperature of the waflle grids rises. When the batter has been cooked the desired amount to produce a light or dark waflle acording to the temperature of the lower grid will have risen sufficiently to cause the bimetallic element to deflect to the left opening contacts 4i and 52. .Under these circumstances the signal device 90 is energized and a visible indication is given the user that the waiile has been cooked and is ready for removal. At the same time the wattage output of the heating unit is substantially reduced so that the cooking of the waille after operation of the control is' slight.

If more than one wafile is to be cooked, the cooking operations will be repeated and the operation of'the control and signal device in each succeeding cooking period will be substantially as described above. If it is desired to change the degree of cooking thereby change its color, it is necessary merely to move the adjusting knob in the appropriate direction to give the result which is desired.

. If it should be desired to discontinue cooking or heating of the waiiie iron during its use while still maintaining the iron connected to its source of supply, this may be done by rotating the knob 04 counterclockwise, as the effect of moving the contact arm 44 against the stop so that the contact 52 will be moved away from the contact 4| as shown in Fig. 4. In this way, the shunt of the signal lamp will be removed and the wattage output of the heater units for the iron will be reduced to a negligible amount so that substantially no heat will be I domestic cooking appliances and I, therefore, do not intend to be limited to the particular adaptation of my improved control arrangement of a particular waflie and shown in Fig. 6. This has I illustrated but intend by the appended claims to cover all modifications which are in the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

1. An adjustable thermostatic switch comprising a temperature responsive element adapted to deflect in accordance with temperature changes thereof, a pair of contact members, a resilient arm for supporting one of said contact members so that it is relatively movable with respect to the other contact members, means on said resilient arm adapted to be engaged by said temperature responsive element so that said arm is moved in accordance with the deflection of said element to cause said contact members to be operated to a different circuit controlling position, a hairpin-shaped member having a slotted curved portion and a pair of leg portions, means for securing said contact members to said leg portions, a rotatably mounted shaft extending through said curved portion, a pin on said shaft adapted to cooperate with the slot in said curved portion so that rotation of said shaft will causetranslation of said hairpin-shaped member and move said contact members closer to or farther away from said temperature responsive element whereby the temperature setting of said switch may be varied.

2. An adjustable thermostatic switch comprising a temperature responsive element, switch means comprising a relatively fixed contact and a relatively movable contact, means for supporting said contacts in operative relation with respect to each other, means associated with said relatively movable contact member and adapted to be engaged by said temperature responsive element so that said contact member is moved in accordance with deflection of said temperature responsive element, cam means comprising a hairpin-shaped member having a slotted curved portion and a pair of leg portions, means for securing said contact supporting means to said leg portions, a shaft extending through said curved portion, a pin on said shaft adapted to cooperate with the slot in said curved portion so as to cause translation of said cam and said contacts in accordance with rotation of said shaft, said translation of said contacts being effective to produce a different temperature setting of said control device.

AUGUST A. PROPERNICK. 

